Adios, for now...

The Bear is going to hibernate for a short while to do some summer traveling and tend to some outdoor projects at the cave (small ranch house) while the good weather smiles upon us.

Before The Bear leaves on his summer trek, I'd like to point the way for you to do some exploring on your own.

In today's LA Times, staff writer Richard Marosi writes about officials in Mexico cracking down on police extortion of tourists on the road between TJ and popular Baja beach destinations. Here's a bit of the article:

First Felix, Now Dutton's

First, Felix the Cat (or a likeness of the famous feline) is officially deemed a landmark by the city. Next, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission voted to designate Dutton's Brentwood as a landmark.

This, of course, upset Charles T. Munger, the building's owner. From the Los Angeles Times:

"'If the council votes to approve this, Dutton's will die as sure as God made little green apples,' Munger said after the hearing. 'These people are trying to save Dutton's [but are] using techniques that will destroy it.'"

Will Dutton's be given an institutional nine lives, like the giant neon cat downtown? (Photo by Paytonc at Flickr)

Morning Coffee

I had not yet consumed my morning coffee when I read an LA Times piece on Indonesian civet cat scat coffee. Yes, it's coffee cherries consumed by the civet cat in an Indonesian forest, excreted, collected and cleaned (really!, but to what extent?), then roasted. It's called, according to the Times:

"...kopi luwak, from the Indonesian words for coffee and civet, and by the time it reaches the shelves of swish foreign food emporiums, devotees fork out as much as $600 for a pound — if they can even find that much. The British royal family is said to enjoy sipping it. A single cup can sell for $30 at a five-star hotel in Hong Kong."

Now you know why Starbucks shares are falling. Wouldn't you rather have a good cup of (not excreted) Aged Sumatra from Peet's or Sumatra Siborong-Borong from Starbucks? Or skip Starbucks and Peet's (both of which, I frequent often) and head for a truly local latte. Maybe enjoy the caffeine and ocean breeze at Tanner's in Playa Del Rey or the pleasant confines of the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company? (Thanks to Potatomato.blog for the link and image of Tanner's.)

Once More, We Visit Dutton's

Writer Callie Miller at the blog LAist offers a nice, brief account of why Dutton's matters. The post includes some quality photos of the Dutton's courtyard.

California Boom!

From the Daily Breeze (So. Cal.):

California, L.A. County populations will go boom: "Los Angeles County's racial makeup is expected to change dramatically by 2050, with Latino and Asian populations doubling to account for more than 80 percent of residents as the number of whites and blacks shrinks in half.

The county's population will grow from its 2000 mark of 9.6 million to 13 million in 2050, with Latinos growing to 8.4 million, or 65 percent of the total, according to state population projections issued Monday."

All of this begs the question: where are we going to park? (Oh, and maybe too, the additional hospitals, freeways, subway terminals, apartments, houses, public service entities, and jobs?) Don't worry, the politicians are all about getting this under control, especially LA's mayor. (Viva Operation Pothole!)

Times Opinion on Dutton's

Culture wins one - Los Angeles Times:

"LOS ANGELES has a way of plowing under its landmarks. It is a corollary of our enthusiasm for the new and a consequence of our free-spirited capitalism that local institutions are sacrificed to progress. The great old steakhouses have largely faded into memory, the streetcars are garaged, the grand movie houses downtown remain mostly as relics. "

Read the rest of the op-ed here.

Soon, I'll write about the loss of the great movie houses, mentioned above.

Brentwood building owner reworks plans to retain Dutton's - Los Angeles Times

A while back, I wrote a post about Dutton's Bookstore in Brentwood (LA) and the billionaire Charles T. Munger who wanted to raze the building that Dutton's occupies to build condos and stores. This wouldn't have eliminated Dutton's, but it would have changed its footprint, which would have drastically altered the nature of Dutton's. (According to the Los Angeles Times, "With its multi-room layout, ripped carpet and overflowing shelves, Dutton's is considered by many to be a city institution and one of the nation's great idiosyncratic bookstores.")

The Times reported on Friday that Mr. Munger has changed his mind. The 60-unit-luxury condo plan is "scrapped...in favor of erecting a two-story retail complex that would retain Dutton's Brentwood Books in a new and improved space."

Mr. Munger to the Times: "Bookstores are fragile,' he said. 'Jostle them slightly and they never reopen. The best thing is to make sure it never closes.'"

Good news indeed. Bibliophiles win, perhaps for the last time.
(Photo: Doug Dutton shelves books, LA Times)

Life is Short. Art is Forever.

My wife is constantly sending me links to a blog at the San Francisco Chronicle called, The Poop. Their mission:

Take it from us. You still rock! Life doesn't have to end when you buy a minivan. So relax, mix yourself some Kahlua and Similac Advance Infant Formula™ and schedule a daily cyber-playdate with The Poop - the blog for parents of infants and toddlers in the Bay Area!

It doesn't exactly fit my demographic, as I have discovered that I definitely no longer rock (and maybe only briefly did in the late '80s). Nevertheless, The Poop's collection of writers are great wits, and I enjoyed their Friday post enough to share it here.

First a brief aside. I'm no snob when it comes to movies. Not every flick coming out of Hollywood needs to be The Godfather or The Graduate, and I find it ridiculous when people suggest otherwise. Popcorn flicks have been shown on screens since the infancy of film, and that simply isn't going to change until people stop paying to see these films. Case in point, Transformers cleaned up at the box office this weekend. I probably won't see it, but the preview looked cool, and I can understand why it might be fun. Movies should be fun, right?

However, there are some in Hollywood who simply can't manage to have common sense. How can you spend millions on a movie and not have some person with a basic understanding of story and the English language read or write the script? How many times have you left the theater or put the Netflix back into the envelope thinking, I wasted a portion of my life on that nonsense?

Back to The Poop. On Friday, Peter Hartlaub wrote about the upcoming "Alvin and the Chipmunks" film, which included an image from the film poster (included in full here). Hartlaub's comments are hilarious, and I'll agree that the movie poster poses some questions: Are they now moving into hip hop and away from pop standards? Do Alvin and the Chipmunks go to the Vibe Music Awards? Will their Christmas album include a cover of Run D.M.C.'s "Christmas in Hollis?" What in high-pitched hell were they thinking?

Then again, maybe the Hollywood suits are more clever than we assume. The new look chipmunks have produced at least two blog posts. So it goes.

Summer = Steaming Wieners

Mmmmm. Look at all those steaming wieners. Do you know what they're saying? They're saying, "This is the year that Fink beats 'The Stomach'."

-Meatballs

Summer is the time for grilled and boiled meats. If you're in SoCal, that means you're heading for Pink's or Dodger Stadium for dogs. Find yourself cruising in NoCal for a steak? Chances are that you'd head to Harris or Alfred's steak house in the winter. But it's summer, dude, so you're more likely to fire up the grill and lay down that steak yourself.

I won't wax too long about great summer meats, but I will warn you that you should refrain from "competitive eating." Vallejo, California native Joey Chestnut is now the world-record holder in consuming hot dogs. I watched the YouTube video, and it made me want to gag. I thought about embedding the video here, but I'll spare you the agony.

Eating summer food should be celebrated for it's tranquil pleasure, not it's hedonistic gluttony.

Happy 4th of July!

The Bear salutes all of his alert and patriotic readers on this 4th of July.

Celebrate independence!

-The Bear

Silencing Fans

In Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle there was an interesting story about fans wanting to protest Barry Bonds going to Major League Baseball games with signs, t-shirts, and other paraphernalia and being stopped at gate. According to the teams, who are responsible for items taken into the stadium, these items were in poor taste. However, according to the fans, it seems as though MLB is the one sending out an edict to teams, hoping to silence dissent. Here's MLB's response to the SF Chronicle:

"Major League Baseball has issued no edicts regarding Bonds, and each team has discretion regarding signage and fan behavior, said spokesman Pat Courtney. As Bonds has closed in on the record, security officials for Major League Baseball have held conference calls with teams hosting the Giants to discuss potential problems, Courtney said, but the teams deal with cases on an individual basis."

There seem to be no shortage of signs when the message is pro-baseball. The images here aren't exactly offensive (see photo at right from SF Chronicle), unless you're Barry Bonds. (By the way, if you don't know the story about Bonds, check out this article in Sports Illustrated. It's assumed by many that Bonds cheated or currently cheats by taking some form of steroids. He holds the single-season home run record and is on the verge of breaking the career home run record.)

Fans should speak out against MLB for not doing enough to protect the game from cheaters like Bonds. For teams to join in the effort to silence dissent is inexcusable.

MLB is not the only professional sport getting bad press these days. The NFL is under fire for not supporting retired players who are suffering from career-related injuries. (See this story in the LA Times or visit Jerry Kramer's web site for information about the Gridiron Greats program.)

I'm a fan of professional sports, and I've paid for my enjoyment of those properties. If those organizations (who have a monopoly on the product) can't find ways to provide an uncontaminated or fair product with those vast riches that they receive from fans, then I think it's right for fans and their representatives to hold the organizations accountable.

"A Place to Grow Your Music"

It's been a long time since I bought a CD from a traditional brick and mortar store. And I wasn't one of the millions to download illegally through Napster or the like. My wife is a musician (Josephine Cameron) and I know how much a professional depends on selling discs.

I continue to download from iTunes, and we both use the Rhapsody subscription service. These work fine until you want to listen to the Beatles or one of a few bands who aren't available on those services.

I needed the Traveling Wilburys and Mike +The Mechanics (okay, not to hip, but more on that later), and it's no dice with those artists on iTunes. I didn't want to pay full price, as in both instances, I was only interested in one track. I've been conditioned, like millions of others, by iTunes to demand a way to pay by track.

I read at the NY Times about a web service called LaLa.com. Here's part of what the article described:

La La Media, which operates LaLa.com and is also based in Palo Alto, is another recent darling of the Silicon Valley venture capital community, having raised $9 million since the business formed in June 2005. According to Bill Nguyen, one of the company’s founders, the site has built an inventory of two million titles since its debut in March, and every day members add 30,000 copies to the collection.

“People are starting to realize this is a really great way of finding new music,” Mr. Nguyen said.

La La charges $1 a trade — about 75 cents for postage and handling costs. The company sets aside about 20 cents for musicians who perform on the disc. “We’re a little bit commie, a little bit co-op,” Mr. Nguyen said.

Here's the deal. It's not really a trade. It's more like used music store meets Netflix. (There is such a thing for movies: Peerflix, but that's a topic for another post.) In effect, you decide to put up some, or all of your CDs available for "trade." Then you select as many CDs as you'd like to receive. LaLa finds someone who wants your CD and another person who has the CD you want. They then tell you to send your Postal Service CD (ok, I'm a little hip) to New Orleans in a pre-paid envelope and case they send to you and some hipster in Portland sends you his beloved copy of the Wilburys. You can send out more than you take in (accruing credits) or receive more (and pay LaLa for the "trade"), though they intentionally throttle your account to keep things in some kind of balance they have computed will make the LaLa universe thrive. I like the fact that they contribute a portion of the proceeds to artists (ask your local used CD shop if they do that!), and I really like that I only have to shell out a bit more than a buck for an entire cd. I digitize albums as soon as I get them, so why do I need the physical copy? Though, I do like to have the album art, which now you can specify to include or exclude in the LaLa trade. They've just moved out of beta, and they offer a whole lot more than just virtual trading (like online playlists). I haven't had time to catch on to the details, so I think a visit to the site is in order. Maybe they're ready to send me my Wilburys.

By the way, in case you think this post strays from the California theme, I should mention that LaLa is based in Palo Alto. (But you gathered as much anyway.) Though, if you're really keeping score, one of the venture capital organizations that's footing a big part of their bill is Bain Capital and they're in Boston.

Good News from Watts

My dad worked in Watts back in the day. Things were tough then, but they're tougher now. Here's a post from the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, written by Jill Leovy, which I've written about before.

"Watts United": "A crowd of at least 100 gathered Thursday for a candlelight vigil to mark the driveby-shooting death of 15-year-old Dovon Harris in the Nickerson Gardens housing project. LAPD Southeast Capt. Rick Jacobs announced a suspect was in custody. The crowd cheered and clapped."

Some folks wrote nice responses to the post. Some others took an opportunity to comment on the reporter's note about lack of cooperation among witnesses in some urban neighborhoods. Here's part of what Leovy wrote:

It works like this: Witness reluctance affords killers impunity, and gives them power to essentially become underworld lords, ruling lawless ethnic enclaves created by the inexorable calculus of housing segregation and poverty. Within such enclaves, violence becomes a kind of currency that people ignore at their peril, and formal legal protection does not exist. Men and boys, in particular, experience extreme pressure to demonstrate they too are capable of violence. If they appear weak, they risk falling on the wrong side of the violent transactions that organize this underworld. They must walk tough, talk tough, and cultivate a reputation for being dangerous if provoked.

One snarky commenter wrote, "It is called an ANONYMOUS POLICE TIP LINE. Perhaps the people of South LA have heard of it! Pick up the phone and help the detectives out."

I'd bet that the commenter has never lived or thought about life in a place like New Orleans, Watts, or Iraq. Of course you can tip police anonymously. But that doesn't hold in court. Police need someone to stand up and point to the perpetrator. It's not the only admissible evidence, but it certainly helps to convict. I've seen it personally, and plenty of other people have seen it on TV or read about it in print. It takes enormous courage to do such a thing. You risk your life if you testify. To be so flippant about life in a war zone is just plain insensitive.

Fires Again at the Top of the Los Angeles Times

Even though we know that fire is a constant of living in California, there's no doubt that this year some of our most precious resources are being threatened. Again, in today's Times:

Tahoe fire claims at least 180 structures - Los Angeles Times: "'It's like a 100-foot wall of flame that's marching through the forest,' said Leona Allen, communications supervisor of the dispatch center for South Lake Tahoe's fire and police departments. 'It's thick with smoke. You can't see your hand. You can't see anything across the street.

'This is the largest fire we have had in the basin since I was born here in 1960, and this is probably the worst tragedy I have ever experienced in my life,' added Allen, whose own home was among those destroyed." (Photo: LA Times)

A Course Called Ireland

Yes, this is a blog about California, but today we're taking a short diversion. Since it's Friday (when I ordinarily write about travel and getting out the door) my mind drifted to California golf courses, and when I think about golf, I often think of Tom Coyne.

Tom is a writer from Philadelphia and friend from graduate school. He's the author of two outstanding books (A Gentleman's Game: A Novel and Paper Tiger: An Obsessed Golfer's Quest to Play with the Pros) both related to the game of golf. Tom is as skilled in writing beautiful sentences as he is in striking the perfect drive. It's rare to read a book about sports that is as well crafted as these two.

He is currently at work on his third book, A Course Called Ireland. Tom is walking (no bus, car, trolley, horse, plane, or train) around Ireland on a quest to play and write about every links course in the country. It's a spectacular adventure, both comic and poignant. Along the way, we learn with Tom about the quality of the courses and the fine people of Ireland.

You can read about Tom's adventure before he publishes the book in Fall of 2008. He's posting stories on Golf.com and you can also watch his progress on a Google Maps mashup.

(Photo: Coyne at Mulranny Golf Links. From Golf.com)

A Midwesterner Visits the West and Finds It Good

My family is mostly from the Midwest, generally from Chicago and parts of Michigan. When I was young and raised in California, I knew that I was only partially a Westerner. Our values, the food we ate, our manner and way of speaking were grafted from a different tree, despite the soil beneath us changing the way we grew.

When I met the woman I would eventually marry, I was not surprised that she was from the Midwest—northernmost Wisconsin, in particular. (A film professor explained to me that all romantic comedies are about recognition.) Soon, I would realize how different I am from a true Midwesterner. For instance, I didn't know what a pasty is. I thought tree stands were tree houses for kids. (They're actually places where drunk people sit to shoot deer). I thought the mini roads and mini traffic signs (snowmobile trails) were for short people. These were a people I had a distant connection to, but I couldn't speak their language.

That's when I truly began to appreciate A Prairie Home Companion, in particular The News from Lake Wobegon. I listened to hours of tapes and learned from the wise Garrison Keillor the ways and meanings of a somewhat foreign people. To him, and his cast and writers, I owe a great debt.

Earlier this month the PHC show was broadcast from the Greek Theater in Los Angeles (an extraordinary place to see any show). It was a special occasion because of the recent fires. It was also an opportunity for a Midwesterner, Mr. Keillor, to describe his his thoughts on the place I know so well. In addition to the show, he also wrote an op-ed piece for the LA Times. Here is a portion of his essay:

Everybody knows the comedy version of L.A. — the city of skinny tanned women, cellphones in hand, driving Suburbans the size of personnel carriers at 80 mph, taking a tiny child to the therapist to address self-esteem issues.

Those jokes play well in the flat parts of the country. A Midwesterner goes to L.A. and feels a certain sense of moral disapproval. The squalor, the opulence, the expense of natural resources to support middle-class life in an arid place, the fascination with the misshapen lives of young celebs. It isn't the Canaan it was for our grandparents. We look at it and see a rundown bungalow selling for half a million and cars inching along the 405 and say, "No thanks."

But it's good to know there's another point of view. The sun does shine there, and people enjoy their lives — the spirit of la pura vida, or the love of life for its own sake, the opposite of Calvinist America.

It is true. Midwesterners come to California and are amazed at how their bodies glow in the sunlight, the wonderful diversity of the population, and the bountiful cornucopia of art and food that the place produces. But most of them are glad to leave it. It's nice to visit, but one look at the murders on the local news, the smog obscuring our view, and the cigarette butts in the sand at the beach, and each of them smiles, and politely says, indeed, "No thanks."

Fog or Shotgun: What Is an Effective Deterrent?

Lately there has been an increase in crime in my old neighborhood. Murder, house burglaries, assaults, etc. It's been bothering me to the point that last night I thought someone had broken into our house. (Note: when your hearing is as bad as mine, you'll think any creak is something much louder that you're missing.) This morning I read a post at The Hardware Aisle (one of the This Old House blogs) that may prove to be a good way to deter thieves. Or, it could be a good way to surprise your wife when she returns from the grocery store or for the kids on Halloween.

The Hardware Aisle: Let's smoke 'em out: "hit 'em with the FogSHIELD—an add-on to your home security system that releases a blinding blanket of fog to stop thieves in their tracks. When an intruder triggers the alarm, water mixes in the FogSHIELD's glycol canister to generate enough dry, non-toxic fog to cover 2,000 square feet in less than 15 seconds. It dissipates 45 minutes later, leaving your furniture unsullied and your electronics intact.

But since the $4,200 system includes a cartridge that can fire off 15 times, you may want to break into your own house once in a while—to distinguish it against real smoke, this fog has what its makers call a 'pleasant, minty aroma.'"

Then again, maybe a picture on the front door of you holding your sawed-off shotgun might be a more effective deterrent. Writer Mark Steyn believes that the low rate of burglaries in his home state of New Hampshire is inversely proportional to the high rate of gun ownership. Don't think that works in LA, though. Might just mean more guns being stolen from houses. I think I'll opt for the fog.

The Bear Returns from Hibernation

The Bear took a few days off to rest from the many house projects that have been keeping us busy.
Thanks to the Cult of Mac blog at Wired.com for the photo.

Ozomatli: The Future of Rock and Roll (or Hip Hop or Funk or Salsa...)

It's been a while since The Bear wrote about Californian music. I thought about going old school with The Beach Boys, The Turtles, or some local jazz. Then I thought about going modern pop or rock, but nothing came immediately to mind. What's California sound in 2007? Then, the band that (to my ears) fits the definition of modern California sound came to mind, "Welcome to Ozomatli. Version 12.0." (From their website:)

Rested, revived, and ready for the next level.
On the surface, nothing’s changed. There’s the same core line-up, the same oppositional politics, the same live shows that erupt into drum-line blessed community parties, and the same devotion to polyglot urban sound clashing. But here’s what’s new: after 12 years of collaborative song-writing, 12 years of constant touring everywhere from Denver to Tokyo to Sydney, 12 years of supporting anti-war mobilizations and global human rights movements, 12 years of pioneering Spanish-English mash-ups of hip hop, salsa, cumbia, dub, and Middle Eastern funk, and most importantly, 12 years of facing up to internal battles and personal struggles, they’ve emerged anew with their fourth full-length studio album, Don't Mess With The Dragon, the band’s most cohesive, polished, and joyous record to date."

Some people say, "Give me just salsa or just hip hop. I don't want a blender band." I might have agreed until I heard Ozomatli perform live. First, they do each style very well. Second, their "polyglot urban sound clashing" really works. They've been doing it for over a decade, and their beat and sound is tight. No doubt, there are imitators. But if you're looking for a good band that combines many strands of contemporary Californian music, you can't go wrong with Ozomatli.

The Bear Reads a Great Chicago Blog

There are many great things The Bear enjoys and loves outside of California. The Chicago Bears, of course. Chicago pizza and dogs have a special place in our arteries.

The Bear also enjoys reading Chicago blogs. My favorite is Confessions of a Trophy Husband (mydaddoesnotwork.com). There you'll read about the adventures of a typical Midwestern family, with one atypical detail: the dad stays at home (and blogs while completing domestic duties) and mom goes to work. This is increasingly more common, but it is still a strange concept to many in our culture. In fact, today, the Chicago Tribune's business section had a story about this blog, and the writer pointed out some interesting details about how our society is strangely unprepared for this idea:

[Quoting the dad,] "A dad with a child doing whatever it is, people come up and say what a great job I'm doing. Men are held to a lower standard. The expectations are low."

Still, it takes self-assurance to be the only man at a swim class where the instructor tells the children to paddle to their mommies. He often finds himself the only dad in a room full of moms who assume he is out of work.

"Women have a puzzled look even when I explain what I do, that I'm a stay-at-home dad. There are just questions. 'Did he lose his job? Is he sick?'"

I highly recommend the blog. It's funny, well-written, and it reminds you that family life has a unique beauty that should be cherished. (There's also some cool posts about music that I really dig.)